Bylaws of the International Bank Note Society

Article IV. Officers and Executive Board

Section 1 - Elected Officers

The elected Officers of the IBNS will be the President, the Immediate Past President, the First Vice-President, the Second Vice-President, and a Board of Directors of nineteen (19) members, of which twelve (12) will serve At-Large and seven (7) will be elected from and serve specific regions of the world. Of the At-Large Directors, six (6) will be elected as provided herein and six (6) will be appointed by the Executive Board upon recommendation of the President at the first meeting of the Board following the first Annual General Meeting after the election is held. All Directors, whether elected or appointed, shall be considered elected Officers and shall have equal representational status within the organization.

Section 2 - Geographic Regions

For purposes of Regional Directorships, seven (7) geographical regions are established, as shown below. A Regional Director must live in and be elected by his fellow members living in one of these regions:

1. Region 1 - US/Canada Mountain time zone and west (states/provinces that do not adopt daylight savings time will be designated according to their wintertime zone).
2. Region 2 - US/Canada Central time zone and east; Bermuda.
3. Region 3 - United Kingdom.
4. Region 4 - Western Europe and Scandinavian countries (includes Finland), less UK.
5. Region 5 - Baltic states, remainder of Europe east of Germany-Austria-Italy, the Middle East and Africa.
6. Region 6 - Asia east from the Urals and Caspian Sea, south Asia east of Iran, Australasia, Pacific Islands not using US postal codes.
7. Region 7 - Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

[For clarification, the UK Secretary shall be responsible for memberships in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while the Australian Secretary will be responsible for memberships in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan]

Section 3 - Requirements

No person will be eligible for elective office unless he has been nominated and seconded by IBNS members in good standing and has signed a written statement that he is aware of the duties and responsibilities of the office for which he has been nominated and is both capable of and willing to carry them out conscientiously and to the best of his abilities.

1. No person will be eligible for election to the positions of President, First Vice-President, or Second Vice-President unless he is or will be twenty-one (21) years old or older as of the election date, has been an individual member in good standing for an unbroken period of four (4) years as of 1 January of the election year and continuous through to the date of the Annual General Meeting where the results of the election are reported, and is a serving member on the Executive Board who has, or will have completed by the election date at least one (1) full term as a member of the Executive Board. All first term Directors who were elected to the Board, and those who were appointed to the Board per Section 1 above at the first meeting of the Board following the first Annual General Meeting after the previous election, and ex-officio members first appointed at the same meeting, shall be deemed to have met this “one (1) full term on the Executive Board” requirement.
2. No person will be eligible for election to the office of President for more than two (2) consecutive terms.
3. No person will be eligible to serve as a Director (either elected or appointed) unless the member:
   1. has been an individual member for at least two (2) years as of 1 January of the election year.
   2. has held continuous membership and not had his membership suspended or been expelled from the Society during the two (2) years immediately preceding 1 January of the election year through to the date of the election or appointment; and
   3. is in good standing and holds continuous membership from the time of nomination or appointment through to the date of election or appointment.
4. No person will be eligible for simultaneous candidacy for more than one (1) elective office.

Section 4 - Executive Board

The elected Officers, together with the General Secretary, the Treasurer, and the ex-officio members, constitute the Executive Board, which shall manage, conduct, and operate the affairs of the IBNS.

Section 5 - Appointed Officers

The appointed Officers of the IBNS will consist of the General Secretary, Treasurer, Journal Editor, Legal Counsel, Education Programs Manager, Grievance and Discipline Program Manager, Webmaster, Advertising Manager, Membership Secretaries, Chapters Secretary, Awards Program Manager, Immediate Past President, Auctioneers, and Young Numismatics Committee Chair all of whom will be ex-officio members of the Executive Board. Additional appointed Officers will be Assistant Treasurers, Librarians, Grievance and Discipline Assistants, Assistant Awards Program Managers and such other Officers who, in the opinion of the Executive Board, are required from time to time to manage the affairs of the IBNS. The Executive Board shall specify which of the additional appointed offices entitle the incumbent to ex-officio membership on the Board.

Section 6 - Executive Board Responsibility

The primary responsibility of members of the Executive Board is to actively participate in the management and direction of the affairs of the society. Attendance at Executive Board Meetings is an integral part of this responsibility. Members who are “reasonably available” (i.e., present in a reasonable proximity to the Board Meeting at the time at which it is held) are expected to attend unless given an excused absence in advance by the President or other individual who will chair the meeting in the President’s stead. Reasonably available members who fail to attend an Executive Board Meeting and who have not been excused in advance shall be recorded in the minutes as “available, absence unexcused” (AAU). Any Board Member who earns two (2) consecutive AAUs, or three (3) AAUs in any twelve (12) month period, will automatically cease to be a member of the Board.

Section 7 - Resignation

Except as provided in Section 6 above, an Officer will cease to hold office and to be a member of the Executive Board if he resigns his office by delivering a written resignation to the General Secretary (or, in the case of the General Secretary, to the President), if he is of unsound mind, if he ceases to be a member in good standing or becomes an undischarged bankrupt. An elected Officer will cease to hold office upon concurring written affirmative vote by two-thirds (2/3) of the elected Officers of the IBNS. An appointed Officer will cease to hold office at the discretion of the Executive Board.

Section 8 - Vacancies

The Executive Board shall fill any vacancy occurring in any appointed position, or on the Executive Board itself, until the next election is held provided, however, that if the office of the President becomes vacant, the First Vice-President will automatically succeed to the Presidency, and the Second Vice-President will succeed to the First Vice-Presidency. The Executive Board shall then fill the vacant Second Vice-Presidency. If the First Vice-President declines, the Second Vice-President will succeed to the Presidency, and the Executive Board shall fill the vacant position(s). Should both the first and Second Vice-Presidents decline the Presidency, the office shall be filled by the Executive Board. Should the Second Vice-President decline the First Vice-Presidency, the office shall be filled by the Executive Board.

Section 9 - Standing Committees

The standing committees of the IBNS are the Publications Committee, the Membership Committee, the Grievance and Discipline Committee, the Education Committee and the Awards Committee. The recurring committees of the IBNS are the Nominating Committee and the Election Committee (see Article V Sections 2 and 4). At its discretion, the Executive Board may from time to time appoint other committees or subcommittees. Unless otherwise precluded in these bylaws, the President will be an ex-officio member of all committees.

1. The Publications Committee, chaired by the First Vice-President, will include: the Journal Editor, Advertising Manager, Treasurer, General Secretary, Webmaster and such other persons and sub-committees as the chair may from time to time appoint.
2. The Membership Committee, chaired by the Second Vice-President, will consist of the General Secretary, Membership Secretaries, and Chapters Secretary, the Auctioneer(s), the Chair of the Grievance and Discipline Committee, the seven (7) Regional Directors, and such other persons and sub-committees as the chair from time to time may appoint.